The Weapon
Reviewed by:
Fight, on august 30, 2004 12 of 12 people found this review helpful

Ease of Use: First things first, this is a Dan Donegan sig pedal but don't be put off. As with most of Didgitech's stomp boxes its extremely simple to use. In fact I'd go as far to say that breathing is more difficult. It comes with four knobs, one volume, two EQ's and one selector. The manual that comes with it explains everything and gives advice on how to achieve Dan's tone (If that's your thing) personally though I just mess around and try to find a tone of my own. Anyway its very easy. // 10

Sound: I'm playing this through a shitty Fender amp and Strat and the tone the pedal produces is still astounding. You get seven settings with the pedal.
1. Heavy Distortion - is great foir a really chunky sound, drop D riffs from artists such as tool and ratm are good on this. As well as a live Metallica vibe. It's marvellous.
2. Light Distortion - for lighter distorted songs obviously. I use it as a sort of crunch setting for blues and jazz. Chuck Berry's Johnny B Goode sounds great on this one. Just enough crunch to give it a good bluesy vibe.
3. Phaser (which can ramp up to distortion but more on the brilliance of this effect later) - now this is a real treat. Not only do you get anawesome phaser effect but holding the pedal down after selecting it slowly ramps up a distortion sound in the back ground. So the phaser sound swells into a briliant heavy tone. The knobs control the loudness of the distortion and how quickly it comes in.
4. Auto Wah - is an autowah which basically means the harder you strike the string the more of a wah sound you get. Pretty simple really. Useful but not as good as the real deal.
5. Ocatave Shifter - is an octave shifter. Neve really got the point of this unless your looking into some crazy ratm solos. Personally I just use it to produce a bass sound and take the piss.
6. Sitar Simulator - sitar effect. This sounds superb. Its hailed as the most realistic sitar simuilator ever and Im inclined to agree. Finally you can do the intro to wherever I may Roam justice.
7. Metal Master Distortion - metal master settings. Quite simply a slightly simplified version of digitechs metal master pedal which offers a whole new range of tones. // 10

Reliability & Durability: This is a pedal that can definately be depended on. Well, I've only had it a few months but I dont see anything going wrong. The only fault I can find is that the gap under the pedal is just big enough for a guitar wire to slot under and thus stop you from pushing it down. This is down to user fault though obviously. Just be careful when gigging so you dont fluff up that all important timing. // 8

Overall Impression: Personally I play a lot of rock, blues and metal. I've been playing for coming up to a year and this pedal has helped me develop my tone ten fold. I have no regrets over the buy. Granted it is quite an expensive piece of kit considering it's a stomp box but it is undoubtably one of the best out there today. If it were lost or stolen I would hunt down the thief, remove his kidneys, eat one and sell the other to replace the pedal. Damn you thieves! Favourite feature is probably the distortion (natch) or phaser. It's a great set of sounds. It's great, buy one! // 10

The Weapon
Reviewed by:
Klash, on january 16, 2006 2 of 3 people found this review helpful

Price paid: $ 134.3

Purchased from: Musicstop

Sound: I'm playing this baby through a Jay Tusner electric (not a bad guitar) and a Washburn BR75 amp and does this thing ever shine! On some distortion settings where you expect their to be background noise, there is none! Just like magic! All of the effects pack a nice punch and great tone. If your a Disturbed fan, then this baby is your 1st born child. // 10

Reliability & Durability: I've had this pedal for a few months now and havn't had any problems with it at all. I'd definatly use it in a gig without a backup, its reliable and has a great sound that you dont have to worry about cutting out halfway through that solo of yours. // 10

Overall Impression: If you play metal, from black sabbath up to Lamb of god or whatever tickles your fancy, this pedals for you. Not only are the distortions insane they kick some serious butt! Comming from a guy who has had plenty of experience with effects, that's saying something. If this thing has one downfall it would be its price, which really isn't that bad but still. If this was lost, I'd so buy another one, if it was stolen, I'd hunt down the guy and take it back. // 9

The Weapon
Reviewed by:
GibsonBarracuda, on april 19, 2006 1 of 3 people found this review helpful

Price paid: $ 197.555

Purchased from: Mothers Music Store

Ease of Use: Awesome! Since it's my first pedal, I thought it would be difficult to use but it is realy easy to use. I suggest using DigiTech's website to find the setting to use and not in the manual, but still read it because it explains a lot about a few tricks you can use with the pedal. The one set back to it, is when changing the settings during a set is hard. You have to be quick and know your setting of by heart (like me). // 10

Sound: I use a Gibson SG Standard (best guitar ever) soon I'll have EMG81 humbuckers in there so it'll sound better with my dinky Ibanez IBZ10G 10watt.
Stupify (custom Dan setting) - this setting sounds exactly like stupify and I can play it in confidence knowing I sound like Dan.
Mistress (mild distorsion) - this setting I don't like, because all that Dan does to achieve this sound is to roll back your volume knob on your guitar to about half (this setting is awaist of time).
Voices (phaser/ramp to full distortion) - this and inavative setting (tip turn cntrl_2knob to the 9th dash then hold pedal after 2-3sec of intro).
Bound (auto wah) - good setting but I prefer a real wah pedal.
Rise/Intoxication (octive shift) - this setting took me day and night to figure out (this is how to make it sound like it supose to). On your amp, turn your bass/treb to 12 o'clock. Have gain cranked. Volume low. On the pedal turn level knob to: 9thdash, Cntrl_1:5thdash, Cntrl_2:about the 6th.
Stupify (sitar) - awesome, excellent sound, good for acoustic stuff and soft melodic parts.
Mistress (heavy distortion) - this is my favourite setting. This setting is good for any metal/rock bands (I highly recommended this setting). // 10

Reliability & Durability: This is basicly a brick. this pedal will last longer then my friends DigiTech RP200A. I've depended on it during many sets with my friends. One suggestion is to use a power source and not the built in battery, you'll get a much better sound if you do. // 10

Overall Impression: I play a lot of Disturbed and Slipknot and it suits the sound very well. I've been playing for about a year on electric and 2 on acoustic. I own a 1982 Yamaha acoustic guitar (brilliant and full sound), Gibson SG Standard, The Weapon, and my amp, that's all the gear I have for the time being. I love how I can match my settings to the other song from Disturbed. // 10

The Weapon
Reviewed by:
jason_sayers, on may 04, 2006 0 of 0 people found this review helpful

Price paid: $ 190.302

Purchased from: Ebay

Ease of Use: This pedal is really easy to use and the manual is very easy to follow unlike Boss pedals, who's pedal come with the worlds most confusing manual ever, it is very easy to to connect very light and durable. // 10

Sound: I am using this pedal at home through a 20wat Boss amp and a Cruiser by Crafter Guitar which cost 140 from Argos and my god the sound this thing kicks out is amazing even through my crappy equipment. The effect's sound so sweet all the time and would make even a novice player proud of the sound he/she has. // 10

Reliability & Durability: I would use this one pedal through out an entire show without worrying because it has solid connection's and the pedal is just solid all over. // 10

Overall Impression: I mainly play rock and metal and this can deliver some power through a crappy practise amp and if you plug it into a top quality performance amp stand back cause it will blow you away trust me I used it through a Marshall AVT275X amp at my local studio and a PRS Modern Eagle guitar that I borrowed of my mate and wow. I have been playing guitar for 3 and a half years and I have never heard a pedal with so much power behind it, It can make your guitar sound aggressive or very melodic. If this pedal got stolen I would go mental but I would deffinately buy a new one. I compared this pedal with Boss pedals and they just can't cope with what DigiTech can do. I wish you could jump out of one setting and go to another but unfortunatly it is only a single pedal but hopefully DigiTech will make a multi effects version of it. // 10

The Weapon
Reviewed by:
prepkiller 666, on june 30, 2008 0 of 0 people found this review helpful

Price paid: $ 95

Purchased from: Mary's Music Store

Ease of Use: The effects are amazingly easy to use. You don't need the manual for anything except the ramp to full distortion on the third setting. On the distortions, control 1 and 2 are a high and low band EQ, respectively. On the third, control 1 is phaser amount and control 2 is ramp to distortion time. Hold the pedal down for 2 seconds after it's already on to start the ramp to distortion. Setting 4 auto-wah, well, I'm not sure. I know how to get the sound I want, but I'm not sure what each does. Read the manual fully for that like I should have. On the fifth setting, control is a dry/wet signal balance, and control 2 is octave selection (2 below, 1 below, 1 above, 2 above). On the sixth, control 1 is reverb and 2 is fret buzz (I think, once again). Even a complete know-nothing to the world of guitar effects can figure out this one. // 10

Sound: I used it with a 45-watt Marshall and an Epiphone Les Paul with custom humbuckers, and with the effects on, it sounded great. Feedback is minimal on the distortion settings and basically nonexistant on the octave shifter, sitar simulator, and phaser. My main complaint here is that when you try to bypass the effects, your sound gets a bit chopped up if you try to play loud, especially on neck pickups. Do not try to run a signal through this after something like an EQ or acoustic simulator, it will destroy the tone, and as far as running effects through before this, try to keep the level to a minimal so the signal stays cleaner afterward. Just look at the other reviews for the sound effects. And I'm going to have to agree with whoever said that setting 2 is a waste. That setting is supposed to be for medium distortion. Just turn your volume down half way, keep it on distortion 1, and you basically get the same sound. // 7

Reliability & Durability: This pedal has yet to fail on me. But if you have a longer than three hour show, I wouldn't suggest trying to power it with a 9V. It can last up to 5 or 6, but I wouldn't want to risk it. As far as durability, well, my friend had one. He dropped it down a flight of cement stairs, after which it tumbled down a rocky hill, went over some more cement stairs, went over really big rocks, and into a river. (music store was next to the river, and the moron wanted to show off his own). Anyways, we retrieved it, dried it out, and it still sounds as good as mine. So yeah, it's durable (please don't try that with yours if you get/have one. I can't guarentee that everybody will be as lucky). // 10

Overall Impression: I use this pedal for a lot of rock and metal guitar playing. I also own DigiTech's DF-7, and I must say that The Weapon has much easier to set and better sounding distortions. I wish I had checked how clean the signal stays going through it before I bought, though. I guess that's why my music store has a shelf of Bosses running through each other into one amp, while the DigiTech shelf only runs three at a time. If it were to be stolen, I think I'd buy it again. // 9

The Weapon
Reviewed by:
REDisturbed157, on december 05, 2011 0 of 0 people found this review helpful

Price paid: $ 130

Purchased from: Ebay

Ease of Use: It's very easy to get a sound out of the weapon. In fact, it has Dan Donegan's signature guitar tones installed on it. There are no editing patches on this pedal because of the sounds that you get from just that individual box. The manual does a decent job of explaining the material. There is no firmware revision number. // 10

Sound: I ran this pedal with the Roland Cube 20 XL and played with a ghetto Squier Bullet. It doesn't sound that great because of the guitar that's being used. Otherwise, the sound output I get from the pedal is just amazing. The tones sound exactly like the the real thing (with the right equipment).
1. Stupify: This tone is great not only for the song itself, but also for the newer songs from Disturbed as well.
2. Mistress (overdrive): This sound is great for rhythm guitar and as an interlude sound as well.
3. Voices Phaser: This Phaser is an amazing arpeggio tone for when I play for the church choir or for a school music program.
4. Bound (auto-wah): I use this tone for crunchy rhythm tones. Also works good for soloing when you have a sustainer.
5. Rise/Intoxication Octave pitch shifter: This is a good tone for when you want a bass tone going through your guitar.
6. Sitar: Richest sitar simulator out there. Do NOT use this tone for rhythm and chords. This tone is excellent for leads and interludes.
7. Mistress (radio style guitar break): Great fuzz effect for the guitar. Great for pinch harmonics. // 10

Reliability & Durability: This pedal is 100% dependable. For some tones, I would use the CS-3 (or similar) pedal for soloing though if the guitar itself had poor sustain. The pedal has a Solid Metal chassis and will stand up to almost anything. The only thing that I'm not happy about is the battery compartment. The connector broke off when I removed the old battery pack. This pedal deserves more respect than what it gets. // 10

Overall Impression: As a firm and enthusiastic believer who is greatly enthralled with Disturbed's philosophy, it's a great honor to have the privilege of using Dan's signature tones. In fact, this pedal is so great, that I don't need another metal driver. If this pedal got stolen, I'd find that punk and take it back (I'm a firm believer in minimal violence). I bought this pedal because it has the signature tones from Dan Donegan (who is one of my main influences). I have no complaints except that it should have been a tad cheaper than what it was. // 10

The Weapon
Reviewed by:
whh, on january 12, 2012 0 of 0 people found this review helpful

Price paid: $ 80

Purchased from: ebay

Ease of Use: I guess if your new to effects this might be difficult to figure out. I was able to figure it out quickly. You can adjust a lot in each of the seven sounds. Manual was helpful. Not sure about the firmware revision number or if it has ever been upgraded. // 10

Sound: I have used combinations of a Fender Fat Strat, Epiphone Dot Standard and Epiphone Les Paul Standard with Zack Wylde EMG setup into Marshall MG100DFX and a Bugera 333. I have only one sound that is useable and that is, as you might guess, the sitar effect. As for using this to get your setup to sound like Dan's, I DO NOT find any sound from this pedal that makes it sound like Disturbed's guitars, not even close! I have had more luck achieving that by using a Boss MT2. This is supposedly the pedal that should recreate the sound of Dan Donegan from Disturbed! I actually bought a second one and was equally disappointed. Now I sat with it for days trying to get it to sound good but never got something useful. Very disappointing! Was very excited about this pedal! I will give it 1 because I cannot find a 0 in the ratings. // 1

Reliability & Durability: It's a DigiTech and my experience with their pedals is stellar. They last like a Boss. I would not gig with it so would not need the backup. In this case I actually have the backup! Initially I though something was wrong with it, that is why I bought the second one to compare. Now I am stuck with it since I am from Africa it is difficult just to put it back on eBay. The 10 rating here is for the dependability of a DigiTech product. // 10

Overall Impression: I play Metallica, Disturbed, Fokofpolisiekar, Eric Clapton, Rolling Stones stuff mostly. And then music like that. Been playing 17 years. Would not buy a third one or a fourth one or a fifth one... If you want it contact me for a price. I bought it on eBay hoping for a pedal to give me instant Dan sound. // 1

I love this pedal, I used to play a lot of Disturbed and it's true you can pretty much master Dan's tone with this pedal. I then moved on to Zeppelin, Metallica, Maiden, and of course Trivium and the pedal still sounds ****ing amazing with some tweaking on the tones. I use this pedal for a lot of my own songs too, a ****ing great pedal.

i just got on a while ago and i love it, its my favorite in my line up. the phaser with the backround noise is sweet but my pitch shifter is a little jummpy wich is wierd, anyideas on how i could fix that

Anyone else have an issue with the distortion being very tinny? It sounded great when I got it, but now it seems like the distortion has absolutely no low end to it, no matter what I do, and regardless of amp or guitar. It's strange, because only settings 1, 2, and 7 are like this. The distortion on 3 on the phaser sounds fine.
Still worth the buy though. Great phaser, and i absolutely LOVE the Sitar effect.

pedal is great, every setting works amazing except for 3, phaser to distortion. once the distortion kicks in there is a horrible squeal that comes from my amp when i'm not playing, but it's only on this setting, distortion on other settings is fine. also agree with JakdOnCrack, distortion has no bottom end to it at all on the 1,2 and 7th positions on the pedal. sounds like a high mid and treble mass of noise, but mine was used so i don't know why it's like this... any one else no the problem?

hey i bought one three years ago and i was playing with it for over 2 years then earlier this year i go to play and it wont work!!!!! and everything is the same as i left it. i took it to good n loud and they told me they cant do anything but they told me to look for a pedal technician or something like that. any help or comments would be amazing cause i really miss playing on it.

I use a Gibson SG Standard (best guitar ever) soon I'll have EMG81 humbuckers in there so it'll sound better with my dinky Ibanez IBZ10G 10watt.

Erm... Dude, you have a Gibson SG and some crappy Ibanez starter amp? And believe me: the pickup change will not make a huge difference through that amp, spend your money on a decent amp instead of new pickups.